The page they died for

When you really stop to think about the heroes we honor on Memorial Day each year, you can’t help but think that one day is hardly enough to pay proper tribute to the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of this country and all it stands for.

By the same token, the page or so of photos that we shared with you this week from the ceremony at Greenwood Cemetary honoring our fallen servicemen hardly seems adequate, but we hope you will take the time to really look at them and appreciate what Memorial Day should mean to you.

Start by thinking about the freedoms you enjoy and the principles you hold dear, and imagine what your life would be like without them.

At this newspaper, when we think about principles and freedoms, our thoughts invariably turn to the Opinion Page you are reading right now, and we say a prayer of thanks each and every Memorial Day for the men and women who have fought to preserve both the freedom of speech and freedom of the press that are so clearly exercised on page two of the News Letter Journal each and every week.

In recent weeks, we have received and published letters and columns that suggest we should stifle some of the opinions that are expressed here, but Memorial Day reminds us that those opinions were important enough for American heroes to fight and die for.

That makes the decision to run the vast majority of the letters we receive an easy one, and we will continue to share the opinions of all of our readers because that is the best way we can think of to honor the sacrifice of our fallen soldiers throughout the year.